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Thornton lecture on Trade Center engineering, Oct. 4

Posted October 1, 2001; 11:42 a.m.

by sschultz

Thornton, an engineer whose firm has been charged with assessing the structural damage in New York caused by the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, will give a seminar Oct. 4 on the ongoing work.

The seminar is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Oct. 4 in Room 222 Bowen Hall in the Princeton Materials Institute. Thornton will give a 45-minute presentation and then answer questions. He will discuss structural factors that led to the World Trade Center towers collapse and implications for future design of skyscrapers.

Thornton is principal of Thornton-Tomasetti Group Inc., which has been hired by New York City to conduct and coordinate engineering related to the Trade Centers disaster. The firm gives day-to-day advice to the construction companies that are removing the debris and is overseeing the structural assessment of surrounding buildings.

Thorton-Tomasetti handled the engineering for the largest skyscraper in the world, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Thornton is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and teaches a course entitled "Design of Large Structures: Buildings" in Princeton's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.